Suna no onna 

English title: Woman in the Dunes

Genre: psychological drama (in black and white)

With: Eiji Okada (Niki Jumpei), Kyôko Kishida (the ‟old hag”), Hiroko Itô (Niki's wife), Kôji Mitsui, Sen Yano

Director: Hiroshi Teshigahara

Screenplay: Kôbô Abe, based on his novel, with the help of Eiko Yoshida as scripter

Release: 1964

Studio: Toho Film (Eiga) Co. Ltd., Teshigahara Productions

Rating: -

MBiS score: 8.7/10

 

 

Clowns to the left of me

Jokers to the right

Here I am stuck in the middle with you*

 

 

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Story-line: when Niki, a teacher and entomologist, misses the bus back to Tokyo and finds himself stranded in a remote area, locals offer him shelter for the night. They lead him to a large hole at the bottom of which a house has been built – the one inhabited by the ‟old hag” – and help him down using a rope ladder. The next morning, the ladder has vanished and Niki realizes that no one wants him to leave that miserable hole.  

Pluses: fine acting by Eiji Okada and Kyôko Kishida as two afflicted souls struggling with and against each other, a symbolic, quiet yet potent screenplay that uses sand (!), silences and eroticism to good effect, Tôru Takemitsu's avant-garde musical score, Hiroshi Segawa's evocative cinematography, suitable production values.  

Minuses: if you have a choice between two versions of this film (123 and 147 minutes), pick the longer one because nothing in it feels superfluous or wasteful. The movie's ending, although surprising, is quite realistic in the grand scheme of things.

Comments: the understated, strange and atmospheric WOMAN IN THE DUNES is basically a horror movie without bloodshed. It pits human against human and man against woman in a tragic and unusual way, staking freedom and survival as the ultimate prize. As Hiroshi Teshigahara and crew have shown in this striking picture, it is a terrible ordeal to see your whole life suddenly threatened with futility. 

 

MBiS 

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*With a nod to Stealers Wheel (Joe Egan and Gerry Rafferty, writers)